READING FC head of football operations Mark Bowen has reiterated that he has ‘renewed hope’ that Dai Yongge will sell the club.
After the on the pitch protest on Saturday which saw Reading’s fixture with Port Vale get abandoned, the club issued a statement that claimed that owner Dai Yongge is ‘100% committed to selling the club.’
‘It’s been mentioned that Nigel Howe is back involved in the process, which I think definitely helps for the communication going forward.
“My understanding is that there are two, three, four parties at the moment who are showing a strong interest, but they do have non disclosure agreements.
“I get the feeling and I’m being told the resolve of the owner is strengthened in the last couple of weeks to say ‘OK, let’s do this’.
“There is renewed hope, I know it changes and it’s been like a rollercoaster.
“I just have renewed hope that at the moment we are heading down the right lines.”
When questioned over whether previous bids for the club have been rejected by the owner, Bowen continued: “Maybe the expectation from the ownership as it was from day one when he first decided ‘right, I’m going to sell the club’, to now, maybe that has shifted.
“Maybe the way it has progressed, his expectations have lowered slightly.”
“It’s got to be a football club that goes forward in the future, for the fans.
“We’ve got to get through the transfer window in a football sense.
“Then when the window finishes, we’ve got to get to the end of April and by hook or by crook stay in this league.
“Hopefully then there are agreements in place and we’ll be sitting here thinking, ‘wow, now we can do something and go forward as a club, everybody together.’
“The important thing is keeping Reading Football Club as strong as it can possibly be from the football side of things.
“With that in mind, we’ll see what the rest of the window brings.
“But we’ve got to try and make sure the squad is as strong as it can possibly be by the time February 1 comes around.”
